Chapter 41

Just wanted to give you a quick update!

I have been SUPER busy these last two days, and I feel...probably just about like Han did after his torture. Ok, maybe not...but I can hardly move I'm so sore. You see, I'm drum major for Band this year, meaning I get to direct, and last night I spent about an hour directing and tonight about 2 hours directing, an hour on glock block (keeping time) and another hour before all of that playing cymbals with drumline. Tomorrow I have to get up and hurry to school at 8 for Link Crew, and I get to run around and do stuff for that...and then go back to band rehearsal again after somehow managing to make cookies in there.

So, I really can't promise at this point that 41 will be up tomorrow, as I still haven't edited 41 or 42, but I will try my hardest to do so. I really would love to put it up because I know some of you are waiting!!! And I would edit it right now, but I really should get to bed. I do have to be up in about 7 and a half hours...sigh.

But, there are promises of good things to come, so that's a plus!!! =)

Hopefully a new chapter tomorrow...meaning that the story will be rounded out on Saturday, along with special announcements!

Final Moments

I know, I know...it's not the normal title, but I have to make a blog post.

I just finished writing chapter 42 of "40 Days" and honestly, it was the toughest thing I have ever written IN. MY. LIFE.

The emotion that just runs off of the screen during the Carbon Freezing is so difficult to capture in words, because there's almost no way to describe it. Those moments on Bespin are, honestly, some of my favorite moments of ANY movie in the world, because they are so powerful, even though so few words are spoken.

And honestly, writing it from the perspective of the people witnessing it was completely different. It's one thing to watch it, but to experience it is...just...eye opening. When writing from such a perspective such as I have been, you feel not only Leia's emotions, but Han's as well, and there are moments where the expressions and the glances and the meanings behind everything just start to fill you head. It's really kind of hard to describe.

But I really do suggest, when you read my fic or whenever, that you really look into this scene closely. I honestly have never watched it like I did tonight while I was writing. I never looked that deep into the feelings. I didn't really see the power in the kiss before he's pulled away, or the reflections in their eyes or Chewie's continuing cries.

You see, the reason this scene is SO powerful in the movie, is because of what I said before. Really, in the climax of the moment, only five words are spoken. "I love you" and "I know," and yet, there are a million words that are said in-between those. Words unspoken, words that will never be mentioned. Hopes and fears and dreams and losses and terror and love.

So, in case you guys haven't noticed, not ONCE do they say "I love you" to each other completely to the others face. Yes, a few chapters back Han whispered it to her, and Han said it to Chewie and there was the upset about that, but it was never muttered, especially from Leia. They've come close, but I have always felt that it leads up to this moment. If Leia had said "ILY" to Han before this, I don't think it would mean as much, and vice versa. So just keep that in mind as you read the story.

I just had to blog about this because I really did experience something different. Also, when you get to the point of Han's torture, please PLEASE watch the movie and listen to his screaming. I know, it sounds weird...but do it. Because I don't think it's as powerful without it. Yes, I know, I should be able to bring that affect through words, and I've tried, but there are some moments that you can't say in words. Sounds, or ideas or thoughts or pictures where words just don't compare. And I don't care if you're the best writer in the world. Ok, maybe if you're the best writer in the world...but I'm not, so there. LOL.

And finally, I would like to bring some sad news to all of you. I am, officially, finishing "40 Days"...as far as the writing portion goes. I know I need to finish it now, while the emotions are still in my mind, and I have just a very short chapter left to go anyway, so what's the deal? Lol. But I am now...as I said...officially...writing the last words of the story. These are, in all reality, the final moments of "40 Days."

Noticing Things, Bespin & Busy Again!

Sorry that I haven't posted in the last few days. I really did mean to, but I've been, once again, a busy person. I'll get more into that in a moment though.

So yesterday, when watching Jedi again, I noticed a couple of things. First, that during the scene where Leia gets shot on Endor, in the following shots you can see bright red blood covering Han's fingers. I have decided that this is either ketchup or paint, but takes the appearance of Leia's blood in the movie. It really did distract me, especially since this question then came to mind: "If she's bleeding THAT badly, how did she last for 20 minutes without having some medical attention?" This really did bring in alternate thoughts, but I'm not going to go into that now. Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one to have noticed that every time Han and Leia kiss, they get interrupted. I mean, 3P0, and then Stormtroopers on Bespin, and then Jabba, followed by Luke in the Ewok Village, and finally by the furry little Ewok. I have also decided that this is why these alternate kisses in "Empire" were cut. If they had put those in, it would have been an instance where they weren't interrupted! Make sense if you ask me.

And as I was watching Jedi last night I finished Chapter 41 of "40 Days." That does, incredibly, put me a full TWO CHAPTERS ahead of the curve, and the last two won't be hard, as most of it is already written and in the movie. Granted, there are plenty of moments that I'm going to stick in there otherwise, but overall, a large portion of it is already there. I might have to split this into two chapters, or maybe I'll just keep it as one really long one. I haven't decided, but there will be, for sure, 43 chapters. =) Just thought you all might like an update on that. And thanks for all the comments on 39 so far! I worked pretty hard on that chapter, so I'm glad you all like it!

As I said at the beginning of this blog entry, I've been busy again. I spent about two hours so far today memorizing music for pep band, which I have practices starting on Monday, and I, of all people, really need to have it memorized because I'm directing this year. Oh Gods, I can only see what that will bring. But maybe if I imagine myself as Princess Leia it won't be all that bad. I mean, if she can watch her planet be destroyed and still have enough spirit left to insult Han and then lead the Rebellion in multiple victories, then I certainly am able to lead my band. LOL.

Other than that I have a few video projects in the works, as well as some artwork (sadly it doesn't really involve Han and Leia). Although, don't fear, I have some photography I did during the building of my new Lego Millennium Falcon, and a video as well. So what will I do with that? You'll see. I really am excited to get things going as far as videos go. I would really love to make videos, and I know that at the moment I'm not that great at it. But hopefully I'll get better over the next few months so my videos in Florida will be really awesome. I am also very excited about the launch of the new website and new blog. That should hopefully be going live the beginning of next month.

And finally, I have half of an announcement. Tune in to the last portion of "40 Days" for a special announcement involving it's sequel. I can't guarantee that it will be happy news, well...it will be for me...but that's beside the point here, but it's news on that story none the less!

The Blog, 39 & Bespin

Here are some updates. =)

I am currently working on a new website that will include a blog that EVERYONE can easily comment on! The new site will also have a photo gallery, a contact page and more. =) I'm excited! This new site shall be released on September 1st, as long as I can get it done by then. But it should be pretty impressive. I will probably continue to regularly post the same blog entries here, but with the new site anyone an everyone will be able to comment on things. =)

I just finished chapter 39, although I haven't done edits yet. I think I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to edit it, because I'm just blown away with what I was able to write. LOL. It is REALLY good, and you guys are going to Love it! But it is, sadly, half a week yet until it appears. It's one of the longest, if not the longest, chapters so far in the story, and while it's not super long, it's still much longer than any of the more current chapters.

I am now up to the point in my writing where they reach Bespin. Yes, Day 40, and I can't believe how far I've come! I'll save the full speech for the next chapter though, so expect that coming at the end of Chapter 40, just as a forewarning. LOL.

I hope you have all been enjoying the story so far. =)

Busy, Busy & BUSY!

Yeah, I couldn't come up with a more creative title. LOL.

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on "40 Days." There WILL be a new chapter tomorrow, I promise, as it's already written and I just have to do final edits and uploading. But other than that it's DONE! It was really nice to be ahead for a while, but now I'm back to where I was before...although I'm hoping to have another chapter done for you guys by Saturday, and with this few day break from the story, I'm sure that won't be hard...especially since I only have ONE MORE DAY before I get to planned stuff. Granted, that one more day won't be hard to write either, but I can't say anything else because then I might give things away...because there is a VERY special...ok, not special, but SOMETHING happens...and you won't guess it in a million years (ok...maybe you would, but you're certainly not expecting what's coming in the majority of the next chapter).

I suppose I could go and write now...and I suppose I shall as soon as I am finished with this vlog post. I certainly watched Star Wars...again, like always, because I love Star Wars, and what better place to get inspiration?

If you do have any ideas at all for the title of the next story, please let me know. If you go back a few blog posts you can see some information about the next story in the trilogy. I'm really looking forward to writing it. =)

Hope you all have a great night tonight and a great day tomorrow! I'll be excited to hear from you once the next chapter is released!

Saturday, Almost Done & Updates

I hope you all enjoyed Chapter 35, which went up yesterday, just like I promised. =) Amazingly enough, I managed to finish the next chapter BEFORE putting that one up, although I have edits to do yet...but still!!! This means that I can give you a definite date on when that one will be going up, which is Saturday. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter done by then, although I really have a week to finish it because I hope to post the rest of the story on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which is like every half week. Good for me, good for you, and pretty soon we'll all be done!

Now, I've had some comments about how I shouldn't give up, and how my mindset isn't that great for finishing this thing,  and I thank you for your comments. I felt though that I should reassure you. I'm not giving up, NO WAY! I've come this far and I'm not going to neglect this story now! That would be ridiculous! Sure, I'd love to get this thing done, but part of my "I want it done by this date" is because I generally work better under pressure. So by setting a realistic date for myself (which is being done with writing in about two weeks) means that I am able to write to the best of my ability. It sounds weird, because it sounds as though I will be spending less time per chapter, but that's not really true. I generally spend between 2 and 6 hours on a chapter, which is a large time frame because sometimes I do delete things and re-write (Chapter 36 was very much this way!). On average though it's probably about 3 and a half hours per chapter...and add an extra hour if I'm watching a movie or something while writing. While some chapters go faster than others, I'm not giving up, and don't worry, this story will (hopefully) end just as strong as it started. =)

And finally, I'd like to let you all know that I will be doing updates. This includes multiple fixes, including original typos that just kind of continued (galley, wookiee, etc.) for some reason. You know, it happens. I thank those letting me know about those errors though! And I'm sure you're wondering why I don't fix them now when I write. Well I am so close to the end, and I have this list of things I need to do when I go back through each chapter anyway, so it's easier if it's the same for every chapter. I do guarantee that everything should be fixed before September, as I intend on re-reading each chapter and going through, making notes for the next story, fixing grammar in some smaller spots and, as I already said, fixing typos. Also, those comments before and each chapter will be leaving as well, to give the story a more professional look. =) Don't worry though, I'll continue to do those comments as I write, they're just getting taken out in the edited version.

Thanks everyone for reading, commenting, reviewing and everything else.

AHHHHHHH!!!, Delete & New Chapter

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

That is my leftover reaction from the daily ApprenticeEh vlog. So, everyday they have this outro and they post their favorite interactions of the day, one from Google+, one from Facebook, one from Twitter and one from Youtube. So I watched and I GOT CHOSEN!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! (That's a happy laugh!) I've been on there before, but just to be on there, it makes me feel so special!!!! I literally jumped up, ran upstairs to tell my brother, and then realized that he's not even home. He's at camp. So I'll send him an email tomorrow morning with a similar beginning to today's blog post. LOL. I'm very excited.

And if you haven't seen anything from ApprenticeA productions on Youtube, go do so! They have some really awesome Star Wars stuff, and I highly recommend watching them! Plus, subscribe, and watch the ApprenticeEh vlog as well! And I can't forget about ApprenticeFacts, 1038 star wars facts!!!!

Anyway, I am currently working on the next chapter (ok, next next chapter for you guys) and just deleted half of what I had written because I didn't like it. LOL. I'm so close to the end though, and I'm obviously in a writing mood because I spent about an hour and a half just reading fanfiction earlier and then replied to messages from everyone, and had about 10 great ideas in the process. So I am now rewriting the chapter to fit in with these new ideas...although only 2 or so of them were actually for "40 Days", the rest were all for future stories.

But, some good news for all of you! The next chapter is going live TOMORROW! It will probably be in the evening sometime as I am spending the morning working on some things (including FINALLY being able to go running...more in a minute!) and then heading out to eat lunch with a couple of friends before heading to church to watch a movie for our weekly movie days with neighborhood kids. But I promise you that it will be posted...unless Han Solo stops by at my house, a Death Star blows up our planet...or Fanfiction goes down.

And yes, running. The past two days (well, today and yesterday), I haven't been able to go out for my run because there have been people working in our fields, which just happen to be the ones right next to the lane to our woods, which is where I run. I couldn't even do a lap thing around my barn because they were there too. But they're done now, meaning I can finally go running again. =)

That's about it otherwise for today. I had better get some writing done yet tonight though, because we all know what happens when I finally get inspired.

New Chapter, Ahead & Still Thinking

Today, being Sunday, I posted a new chapter to "40 Days", just as I promised! I told you there would be a new chapter this weekend! This is one of my favorite chapters as well, because of the journal entry from Leia at the beginning. I loved writing it because I felt like it was...different, from anything else I've written in the story so far. Plus, we have the whole...discussion...about other things. We knew it's been coming this whole time, but as promised as well, nothing graphic, because I'm keeping this story at a T rating!

But guess what...there's more good news! I already...ALREADY...have the next chapter finished, and will be starting on the chapter after that soon! At this rate, "40 Days" will be finished in no time and we'll be able to get started on the next part of this trilogy! Which, of course...I still don't have a title for!!!

I was going through my list of ideas for the next story the other day though, and there was this one moment where I saw this one idea and went, literally out loud, "That's brilliant! Wait...I came up with that?" It was pretty funny actually...well, not the idea, that was probably one of the serious ideas I have in it.

And so, for you, my blog readers, I have another sneak peek! Well...it's not much of a sneak peek, but it's a little bit of an extra peek. Here's a little extra on this next story: as always in a trilogy, the second story will be darker, and more serious. Because, as you already know, Han won't be there, Leia's personality changes back to parallel with what we saw before the trip, although probably a bit darker yet. She deals with a lot of things, so expect a lot of yelling. I'm very excited to introduce some new characters into the story from what I've written so far, including Rieekan, Luke, R2, Lando, and even Wedge (along with the rest of Rogue Squadron!). And, I have a special surprise character I'm thinking of bringing in as well!!!

Alright, I think that's enough of my teasing for one blog entry! I'm just going to return to watching "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!"

Upcomming Chapter, A Title & Comments

So I've been working on the next chapter, and just an update. Although I don't have a ton done on it right now, I fully plan on finishing it for this weekend. It really depends on if I go to a friends house tomorrow though...on if it's going to be uploaded tomorrow or Sunday. It might even be up yet today! So we'll have to see, but I just wanted to let you know that it is slowly coming along. =)

Alright, I still haven't come up with a title for the next story, which you lovely blog readers already know about. That information hasn't been released on Fanfiction, only to the blog, so good for you for reading here! I'll come up with eventually, and I have two whole pages full of ideas for that story in my journal (which doubles as an art idea and story idea book...or is that triples?). Anyways, it should be a great story, if the ideas have anything to say about it. I can tell you that it probably won't be as long as "40 Days" though, even though it's over a longer period of time. I am not doing a day by day account for 6 months straight...sorry. LOL. That would take FOREVER, and honestly, would probably be quite boring.

Finally, I'd like to propose something. I really would love it if you guys would comment on this blog, or send me a tweet, or a PM on fanfiction! Anything! So do one of those and I promise to personally respond! =) Also, it'd be great if you could share this blog, and my story, with any of your Han and Leia loving friends. It would really mean a lot to me! =)

Thanks...and a Han and Leia picture to end it out!